{"id":858,"date":"2022-08-16T08:57:35","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T13:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/?p=858"},"modified":"2022-12-19T13:25:31","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T19:25:31","slug":"growing-a-sign-less-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/growing-a-sign-less-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing a Sign-less Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a fascinating story in John 4:43-54 where Jesus is approached by an official whose son is dying. The man asks Jesus to come to his house to heal his son. Jesus responds:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe<\/span><\/i>.\u201d (v.48)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Jesus goes on to heal the official\u2019s son through a few simple words, and the Bible says:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>The man took Jesus at His word and departed<\/span><\/i>\u201d only to find the next day that his son was healed at the exact hour when Jesus said \u201c<\/span>your son will live<\/span><\/i>.\u201d (v.50)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many remarkable reminders in this story, but the one that caught my attention was the depth of the man\u2019s faith. We see he was surrounded by a sign seeking, unbelieving crowd\u2014a group that Jesus condemns. And yet he, likely a Roman official, simply took Jesus at His word. No signs, no wonders, and yet he believed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I reflect on this story, I am blessed by this man\u2019s faith. While there is absolutely no formula to faith, I do see three components to the faith witnessed here that I want to share. I hope they can be an encouragement to us as we ourselves grow in our faith, and an encouragement to others as we help them grow in theirs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1) Asking Faith<\/h4>\n

At some point the official noticed that his son was dying. As a parent myself I can\u2019t imagine anything more horrific. We don\u2019t know exactly what the man knew about Jesus, but we see that in his distress he decides to search Him out. Upon meeting Jesus, the official pleads with Him for help. He asks Jesus to do something he knows he himself cannot do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asking is a part of the faith I see here. Throughout the Bible we are called to bring our requests to God (Philippians 4:6). To ask, to seek, to pursue after the Lord with our requests and troubles. The Bible says God will respond to our asking by granting His peace and comfort (Philippians 4:7). It seems that part of the faith that the man is displaying here is a humility to come before Jesus and submit his needs and requests. May we be a people who continue to do the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Believing Faith<\/h4>\n

The Bible says the official: \u201c<\/span>took Jesus at His word and departed<\/span><\/i>\u201d (v.50). In his pleading with Jesus, the man asked him to come to his house and heal his son. My guess is that the official thought he knew how this would work. He had a plan and likely went to great lengths to carry it out, only to find Jesus with an unexpected response. No dramatic moment. No bringing the crowd to his house to see his healed son. No lifting his hands in the air, shouting words in Hebrew and making a display. He simply said, \u201c<\/span>Your son will live.<\/span><\/i>\u201d Something anyone could have said. And yet, despite the lack of signs, the man believed. Jesus\u2019 words were sufficient. What incredible believing faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Are His words sufficient for you? Is your obedience based on your faith in Jesus\u2019 words, His promises, and His commands? Or do you beg for signs, always seeking more?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Saving Faith<\/h4>\n

Perhaps the greatest part of this story is the end. \u201c<\/span>So he and his whole household believed.<\/span><\/i>\u201d (v.53) We see that the healing of his son results in a saving faith in the person and work of Jesus, not only for himself but for his whole household.<\/span><\/p>\n

This official didn\u2019t just believe in the work of Jesus as a miraculous healer, he took the next step and entrusted his life to Him as Savior.<\/span><\/p>\n

What an encouragement and reminder that is for us. God desires to use all circumstances in our life and in the lives of others to point to and remind us of His saving grace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Life in His name<\/h4>\n

John tells us at the end of his book that this story as well as all that he has written has been shared so that \u201c<\/span>you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name<\/span><\/i>\u201d (John 20:31).<\/span><\/p>\n

Our faith will always be a work in progress\u2014a refining journey of trusting, believing, and obeying. But I find much encouragement and challenge in this story. God invites us to come with our requests, trust in His promises, and believe in the power of His saving grace.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

\n

Growth Point<\/span>:<\/span><\/h4>\n

The faith of the official reminds us to bring our requests to God, trust in the sufficiency of His word and believe in the power of His saving grace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scripture Point<\/span>:<\/span><\/h4>\n

Read Hebrews 11:1. How does this verse build upon the message in this devotional?<\/span><\/p>\n

Action Point:<\/span><\/h4>\n

Is there anything that is holding back your faith in God\u2019s word? Identify one area of your life where you believe God is challenging you to be reminded of His promises and live more obediently towards His word.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual-growth","category-eng"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}